Ed Barnes

2nd Vice President
Membership Chair

For many years the family and I were party crashers, enjoying many Songmaker campouts, hoots, etc. We have made so many wonderful friends and I thank all of you for that. I officially joined Songmakers only a few short years ago. My musical abilities are limited to that of professional audience and my shamans drum. I sing a little but always in the key of left-out.

In late 2011 I was informed there was a need for new blood on the board as several members had decided it was time to move on. I decided after all I had received from this wonderful club, it was time to give something back. I had hoped to quietly serve in little background activities however that didn't quite work out. I was "informed" of the need for a new membership chair person and that "I would" run for that position. Well, here I am, and I hope to serve you well.
Thank you, Ed

2014

Louise "Weezie" Dobbs

Treasurer

Louise Dobbs was born in east L.A. (Boyle Heights) and has lived in Venice/Santa Monica for the last 30 years. Louise loves singing and many kinds of music including Folk, Old Country, Old-Timey, Cowboy, Bluegrass, Classic Rock and Roll, and last, but definitely not least, African pop. She loves A Cappella singing too, is a member of a 5-person A Cappella group called A Cappella Jam, and leads singing jams in Santa Monica. She loves Songmakers and has been a devoted member since 1992. Since 1996 she has served as Songmakers' Treasurer and she regularly leads the West LA Hoot. She is also a member of the California Traditional Music Society and the Santa Monica Folk Traditional Music Club. Her latest endeavor is memorizing at least one song per week! Her hobbies include walking and fitness, spirituality, reading and movies.

2013

David Gilman

Recording Secretary

Dave has been a musician since he picked up a guitar at age nine. He continued with a variety of instruments through concert bands, orchestras, theater productions, chamber ensembles, klezmer, rock, and western bands ever since. Primarily a concert clarinetist, he doubles on flute, saxophones, guitar, violin, viola, and voice. He loves and plays all kinds of music and teaches as well. Dave discovered Songmakers through the website in 2009 and has been hooked ever since. He's a regular at the Orange County hoot but can be seen at other hoots when time and traffic allow. When working, he's a Certified Public Accountant with experience in financial accounting and auditing in a variety of industries. He has also served on several boards of directors of not-for-profit entities in the arts. Dave is really excited to serve on the Board and do more with Songmakers.

2014

Born and raised in the Detroit area, my first involvement in the performing arts was as a competitive figure skater during the years of 1960-1966. After four years at Wayne State University I spent two years in the U.S. Army which included an all-expense-paid trip to scenic South Vietnam in 1968. In Vietnam I flew missions as a scout observer in helicopters, where we flew ‘low and slow’ and earned the nick name “Magnet Ass.” I later transferred as a liaison sergeant into our flight operations office (actually a tent in the field).

Upon returning to the States, I attended Michigan State University in the Theater Department. I helped form a political theater company called “The Streetcorner Society.” During the summers of 1970-75 we performed in the parks of Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, and Baltimore, passing the hat to pay the rent. It is with this group that I began learning a few chords on the guitar in order to sing some of the folk songs of the era, such as “The Great Mandala,” “Blowing in the Wind,” etc.

After acting in regional theater and teaching theater at Lansing Community College I moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana to be the Assistant Manager of the Fort Wayne Performing Arts Center. It was here that I met my wife Sally.

In the summer of 1985 I moved to California where I began work in the Aerospace industry. From 1996-1998 I provided computer support to the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. Later, I worked at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, & Television to recruit graduate and undergraduate students for the Theater Department.

In 2003 I returned to work in the Aerospace Industry as a contracts administrator for a company manufacturing titanium and aluminum aircraft parts for various military and civilian aircraft.

Sally and I fell into the Songmakers sphere after meeting the group at the Topanga Banjo•Fiddle contest in 1998. After our first campout with them, we were hooked and became members.

I retired from the aerospace industry in 2010 and spend my time hiking, camping and playing music. I’m a member of Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Dana Charette

Director

2014

Sally first sang harmony as a little kid while her dad drove the family through Indiana farmland in search of cool air and ice cream. Though she was in plays and musicals in high school and college, she switched from Theater major to English/Creative Writing when she moved to L.A. She’s been a member of one writing group or another for almost twenty years, and was a PEN Emerging Voices Fellow. She’s had stories, poetry, articles and photography published along the way and has kept a blog at www.anygivensundry.com since 2005. She also loves hiking, reading, gardening, cooking, yoga, Zumba, most of her job as a TV/film script researcher, and hanging out at coffee houses and all-night diners.

She and her favorite (and only) husband, Dana, joined the organization in 1998. They both know that the support and experience gained through Songmakers has helped them become more confident singers (and player in Dana’s case). Sally is also the campout coordinator for Kenney Grove.

After years of singing around Songmakers’ campfires and hoots, Sally became part of an impromptu wall of harmonic sound at Roundup 2011. Was it the first time she, Louise Dobbs, Janice Gelencser and Launice Walker had all been in the same room at the same time? Maybe, since none of them live closer than an hour to any of the rest. They decided they needed to explore their mutual affinity for harmony, and The Harmonistas were born. In just under two years, they gave their first concert, they continue to have a blast at their rehearsal/pajama parties and typically will perform at the drop of a hat.

Sally Charette

Corresponding Secretary

2014

I have been a member of Songmakers for over 30 years. I have spent most of them serving on the Board in various capacities. I am currently the Historian and host of the Board meetings. Professionally, I have been a music teacher for 35 years and am currently teaching music full time at The Help Group, a non-public school for children with autism spectrum disorders. I also give private guitar and recorder lessons in my home. Since 1975 I have produced Noble House Concerts, a concert venue featuring acoustic music. I also play in a Klezmer Band called Shir Madness.

Barbara Greenspan

Historian

2013

Dave Gordon

Director

As long as I can remember I have loved music. Early on I listened to radio, and eventually TV, to the music of the 40’s and early 50’s. I wanted to learn to play an instrument, but could not afford one until later in life. So, I became involved in the music that was available to me, school choir, barbershop quartet, and singing along with records and radio.

In my first year of college, I was fortunate to live across the hall from a couple of folk singers, who taught me some basic guitar chords and let me learn on their guitars. I sang in some dorm gatherings and eventually led my fraternity in songs. I even wrote a few songs along the way. I continued this a few years into my working career as an engineer in an electronics company.

Three or so years into my working career, my instrumental music went dark for the most part, largely due to available time and energy. When I retired from this in 2012, I dove back into singing and playing. Last year, I mostly worked on voice technique, while now I am working on my guitar playing.

Songmakers provides additional motivation to work on all facets of my music as well as to listen to others with very diverse talents and styles. I hope soon to return to song writing and will continue improving and expanding my heart for music. I am honored to lend my experience and energy to promoting this fine organization.

2013

Audrey Goodman

Hoot Liaison

Audrey Goodman is originally from Boston, Massachusetts and joined Songmakers in the Summer of 2009. That was the year both of her kids moved out to start life on their own and she got time to herself again! Having spent many hours of her younger years frequenting and performing at Coffee Houses in Cambridge where live folk music was daily fare, she was anxious to reconnect with a folk/acoustic music community here on the West Coast. Finding Songmakers on the Folkworks website, her first “Hoot” was 3 days later and she’s been a member ever since.

Audrey is a professional music educator who’s lived and worked in Los Angeles for the last 25 years. She developed and taught codified music curriculum for Pre K-5 in several public and private schools, plus has provided individual instruction on piano, guitar and various sizes of C and F recorders which is still ongoing. Rumour has it she's also a half decent English Morris dancer and can be seen in festivals around town throughout the year with her group Rising Phoenix Morris.

2014

Jackie Morris has been a member of SongMakers since 2002. A native New Yorker, her love of folk music began at age 13, when her guitar teacher played her a recording by Leadbelly. By her senior year in high school, Jackie started writing her own songs and, in college, she landed a weekend gig playing in a college bar. But a writing career in publishing and advertising, and the demands of raising a daughter, led to a long hiatus in her playing.

By the time she picked up the guitar again, decades later, she was terrified of performing in public. SongMakers was directly responsible for helping her overcome those fears, providing the unconditional support, encouragement, and camaraderie that is the hallmark of this organization.

Today, ten years later, Jackie has produced three albums of original music, the last of which ("Tell Me a Story") was among Top Albums of 2011 on the Folk Music Radio Airplay Charts. She can also be heard on Pandora. So, it is with a deep sense of gratitude and loyalty that she serves on the SongMakers' Board.

Jackie Morris

Publicity Chair

2014

I joined Songmakers in 1981 having heard about the club from a woman with whom I was taking an oil painting class. She was going to a "HOOT" that night, at Phee and Ken's house, in Sherman Oaks. I arrived at 8:00, and quietly sat in the back, just listening. Now some MIGHT say that this was the very LAST TIME I EVER sat quietly in the back, but...I was barely able to play the guitar, but I loved to sing, and soon was learning all those wonderful folky songs, meeting great people, and sharing in the wonderful world of Songmakers. One thing led to another, and for a few years became a member of a band called "Green River" with some fellow Songmakers, particularly Eva and John McFadyen. Over the years I have served as a board member, and look forward to serving this coming term. Thank you Songmakers for a great 27 years!

Patty Quintana

Director

2013

Carol Burton

Director

I have been a member of Songmakers several years now. I enjoy the opportunity to go to hoots, song circles, and Kenney Grove, to play and hear songs that I love. I add harmony to the songs whenever possible. There is something so special about a group of people getting together to share songs and music!

I am also a songwriter of mostly country and folk. I get inspired to write songs due to certain events in my life or in the world, or because of my beliefs. My debut album, "As One," is meant to be inspirational to others, with its themes of joy, friendship, love, peace, and nature. I play the guitar when I sing.

I took a trip to Ireland and got inspired to play the Bodhran. I took lessons on line for a while, also. I am glad to be a board member, and look forward to participating in Songmakers wherever I can.

2013

She started dancing to the ice cream truck at two and quickly progressed to dancing at the Westward Ho Hotel in Phoenix by the age of four. Between then and now she sang folk music in coffee houses while at University of Arizona and performed on stage as an actor/dancer/singer. In the '60s she was lead singer in a group called The Chataqua Circuit with a sound of Manhattan Transfer meets Fleetwood Mac under the tutelage of David Geffen. The group broke up and Ms. Scott then started a career as a motion picture/television/stage actress and also worked as an actress/dancer/singer on The Dean Martin Show, which paid for court reporting school. She runs a court reporting agency by day and sings in a duo, Sugar Magnolia, around Southern California, as well as other gigs across the country, mostly Arizona, Tennessee and Louisiana. She is a member of Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and a recent proud member of the Academy of Country Music.

Donna Leigh Scott

Social Media Chair

2014

Sandy Layne

Director

Storming out of West Texas like a "dust devil", Sandy Layne ended up in Southern California playing guitar and bass in coffee houses, honky-tonks, concert halls and on road tours. All the while singing folk, country, 50's rock & roll and some standards. As a bass player she has performed in some of the largest country music venues in Southern California with award winning musicians Al Bruno, Archie Francis, Guitar Hall of Famer-J.D. Maness, Red Rhodes, and the Crawfish Band (led by Leo Eiffert, Jr.). Sandy is long time member of the Academy of Country Music and has worked as a committee member on the Award Show and Annual Golf Tournament for many years. She joined Songmakers in July,1998 at Patty Quintana's first hoot. Part of a duo "Sugar Magnolia," and the Topanga award-winning group "Fair Sister," with other Songmakers Ann, Maureen, Ruth, Louise and Leigh.

2013

Terry Bailey

Director

Digital New Media author, artist, designer, developer, musician and educator, Terry Bailey, is currently writing a multimedia interactive biography/memoir ebook about the first noted women composers in the U.S. Terry also works as an interactive consultant to a group of businesses in Los Angeles. Previously, as the Director of Web Design and Interactive Media, Terry developed and managed a new academic department for the Art Institute of California - Hollywood (2008-2012).

Since 1990, Terry has produced dozens of interactive new media programs for clients including Johnson and Johnson, Creative Artists Agency, The National Science Foundation, Disney Imagineering and Iwerks Entertainment. As Director of Multimedia and Audio Visual Production for international law firm Howrey & Simon (1994-1998), she established the first in-house New Media department in a corporate law firm. There, she successfully introduced Interactive New Media into litigation, and trained attorneys in the art of presentation, message making and storytelling. Clients for the firm included Texaco and Anheuser Busch.

Terry’s “multimedia” background spans all aspects of new media: theater, fine art, digital painting, video and audio, graphic design, digital publishing, interactive writing, and music composition and performance. Her digital paintings have been exhibited widely, including at the Poway Performing Art Center in San Diego, Sacramento Digital Museum, Long Beach Center for the Arts, Siggraph conference, and at the Disney Gallery in Los Angeles.

Bailey’s new media literary blog, riffingonbooks.com, was rated as #20 of 600 literary blogs in 2012 by blogs.com. Her multimedia novel, Light 1.0, has been a “most popular” podcast on iTunes since its 2005 debut. It is a novel with accompanying music, animation and art annotations. National Public Radio recommended Light 1.0 to its readers.

With an undergraduate degree in film, and a sound engineering background, Bailey developed and managed an Academy Award winning sound and post-production studio in Berkeley (Amadeus, The Right Stuff, Never Cry Wolf) for producer Saul Zaentz before moving into Interactive Media.

Bailey holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Antioch University. She also studied art extensively at various colleges and acting and directing at the American Conservatory Theater, A.C.T. in San Francisco.

But ask Terry what is her greatest passion, and she will most assuredly say, “Music!” Growing up in San Francisco Terry had her first folk group in high school, and was the first female in her school to join a rock and roll band. At 16, Terry landed a week-end job playing in the Attic of the famed Purple Onion. While she studied acting and dancing at the American Conservatory Theater, Terry performed week-ends for two years at the Wine Cellar in Ghiradelli Square. “Back in the day” she also opened for several well-known musicians in various New York City clubs. More recently, Terry has recorded and performed with her favorite guitarist, Ric Ickard, in locations throughout southern California - and learned a great deal more about guitar playing from the other members of the Association of Fingerstyle Guitarists.

2013

I have enjoyed music all my life. My father played piano and organ, I learned guitar and flute! I left England in 1983 and arrived in California some 11 hours later. I have been here ever since! I was introduced to Songmakers in 1985 and have served on the Board almost constantly since. I had a Hoot at my house for some years. I also edited the Bard Chord for a while. I usually play guitar and sing English songs, but have been known to play dulcimer. I am an avid instrument collector, most of which I cannot play and some of which I do not recognize! I played bass for the Heart of England Folk Group, but that was in another life!

Simon Lucas

Director

2014